gp2fandomcom-20200213-history
2019 Monaco Feature Race
The 2019 Circuit de Monaco Race One, otherwise known as the 2019 Monaco Feature Race, was the seventh race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on the 24 May 2019. The race would see Nyck de Vries claim victory in a controversial race, which saw more than half the field lose a lap due to an error by the officials.'DE VRIES SEALS BACK-TO-BACK WINS IN MONACO', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 24/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/De-Vries-seals-back-to-back-wins-in-Monaco/, (Accessed 24/05/2019) The Dutchman would ace two-group qualifying for the Feature, claiming a dominant pole position over Callum Ilott, with whom he would share the front row.'DE VRIES SCORES POLE IN MONACO', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 23/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/De-Vries-scores-pole-in-Monaco-/, (Accessed 24/05/2019) Indeed, due to the unique qualifying procedure in Monte Carlo both Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi would start behind the Brit, with the latter also receiving a grid penalty for an incident in practice.'LATIFI GETS MONACO GRID PENALTY', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 23/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/Latifi-gets-Monaco-grid-penalty/, (Accessed 24/05/2019) de Vries would get away cleanly at the start, benefiting from the fact that Ilott would suffer a terminal issue on the grid that caused the original start to be aborted. Luca Ghiotto hence dart into second, while a poor start for Mick Schumacher saw the German slip behind Anthoine Hubert. Schumacher subsequently became the centre of attention as de Vries eased clear at the head of the field, with the German diving past Hubert to re-claim third before leading the charge into the pits for fresh tyres. He duly fended off a lunge from Latifi after rejoining, an attempt that left the Championship leader with a broken nose, before making an ill-judged move on Tatiana Caldéron for ninth. Indeed, Schumacher would try an overly ambitious lunge at Caldéron through La Rascasse for eighth, but only managed to tip the Colombian into a spin. Caldéron came to rest with her and Schumacher's cars blocking the circuit, resulting the in the race being brought to a temporary halt under red flags. Their cars were quickly dragged clear, although in the confusion the top seven drivers gained a lap on the rest of the field, the result of the officials trying to get the field in order ahead of the restart. When the restart did occur the "lapped" drivers were not allowed to un-lap themselves, meaning the top seven, who all had to stop, were a lap clear. As such the race became a duel between de Vries and Ghiotto, with the Italian the first of the duo to stop. Ghiotto's plan backfired, however, when he was mugged on his out-lap by Nobuharu Matsushita on warmer tyres, meaning de Vries stayed ahead when he stopped a lap later. With that the race was effectively over, barring a late safety car to clear Mahaveer Raghunathan, Jack Aitken and Juan Manuel Correa from the circuit after they had simultaneous accidents. de Vries duly survived the one-lap sprint to the flag after the race restarted, claiming victory ahead of Ghiotto and Matsushita. Ghiotto would, however, be disqualified from the results of the race after his car was deemed illegal in parc ferme.'ROUND 4 POST FEATURE RACE PENALTIES', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 24/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/Round-4-post-Feature-Race-penalties/, (Accessed 25/05/2019) Background The FIA Formula One World Championship made its annual trip to the Principality of Monaco in May 2019, and duly took the Formula 2 Championship with them.'2019 SEASON CALENDAR CONFIRMED', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 05/12/2018), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2018/12_December/2019-season-calendar-confirmed/, (Accessed 05/12/2018) As such, F2 would get to play on the Circuit de Monaco once again, with no changes made to the legendary city circuit for the 2019 season. There would, however, be a change to the entry list, with a familiar face returning to the series for a one-off weekend.Jack Benyon, 'Markelov to make F2 return in Monaco', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 17/05/2019), https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/markelov-return-monaco-mp-motorsport/4390203/, (Accessed 24/05/2019) There and Back Again It was former F2 runner-up Artem Markelov that would get the chance to return to the series, with the Russian joining MP Motorsport for the trip to Monaco. His chance came at the expense of Jordan King, who would miss F2's weekend on the Mediterranean coast having qualified for the Indianapolis 500. Markelov would make his intentions clear upon returning, aiming to claim victory, having left the series at the end of 2018 to race in the Super Formula Championship. Catalan Corrections Nicholas Latifi had extended his lead in the Championship after claiming a handful of points in the Sprint, ending the weekend on 93 points. Luca Ghiotto, meanwhile, had climbed back into second after his podium charge, leaving Barcelona 26 points off of the Canadian out front. Nyck de Vries, meanwhile, had settled into third after his first win of the campaign, while Jack Aitken slipped to fourth. DAMS had seen their lead reduced in the Teams Championship, having only claimed six points to leave them on 126 points after six rounds. That had allowed UNI-Virtuosi to close the gap to 25 points leaving Spain, while also moving past the 100 point barrier. Elsewhere, Campos Racing had lost more ground in third, slipping 27 behind the British squad, while ART Grand Prix and the Sauber Junior Team completed the top five. Entry List The full entry list for the is displayed below: Practice Qualifying Group A Group B Results The final qualifying result for the are outlined below: * Positions highlighted in blue denotes the driver qualified in Group B. ** The grid order was based on the results of each group separately, with the odd numbered cars on one side, and even numbered drivers starting on the opposite side.'GROUPS DECIDED FOR MONACO F2 QUALIFYING', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 22/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/Groups-Decided-For-Monaco-F2-Qualifying/, (Accessed 28/05/2019) *† Latifi was handed a three place grid penalty for leaving the pitlane while the pit exit light was red.'LATIFI GETS MONACO GRID PENALTY', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 23/05/2019), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2019/05_May/Latifi-gets-Monaco-grid-penalty/, (Accessed 28/05/2019) Grid Race Report Results The final classification of the is displayed below: *'Bold' indicates a driver started from pole. *''Italics'' indicate that a driver set fastest lap. ** Correa and Aitken were both still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance. *† Ghiotto was disqualified as his car failed post-race scrutineering. *‡ Ilott was unable to start the race after a failure on the formation lap. Milestones * Third pole position for Nyck de Vries. * Sixth win for de Vries. * ART Grand Prix recorded their 12th F2 win as an entrant. ** Also the 60th win for ART at GP2/F2 level. Standings Nicholas Latifi had seen his lead all but destroyed after the Feature Race, with Nyck de Vries moving just a point behind of the Canadian after claiming pole and victory. Luca Ghiotto, meanwhile, had dropped to third after being disqualified from the results, leaving him five ahead of Jack Aitken. Elsewhere, Sérgio Sette Câmara completed the top five ahead of best rookie Guanyu Zhou, while Artem Markelov moved into sixteenth after getting points on his return. DAMS extended their lead in the Teams Championship after the opening race of the Monte Carlo weekend, moving onto 141 points after seven races. UNI-Virtuosi were next, 30 off the leaders, while ART Grand Prix had made a lot of ground as they climbed to third on 97 points. Campos Racing, meanwhile, had increased their tally in-spite of slipping to fourth, while Carlin had leapt from ninth to fifth. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Images and Videos: * References: Category:Race articles Category:2019 Feature Races Category:Monaco